I want to start by being completely honest with you, I understand. I have been where you are now. There were certain things I wish people would have said to me, things that could have spoken volumes to me when I needed it the most. But for me, that’s the past. This is for the people in the present, who are thinking about suicide. This is for you. This is me, asking you to stay alive.

Stay alive for simple reasons. Stay alive because you just really like the new song on the radio and you would miss out on singing the lyrics at the top of your lungs in the car. Stay alive because you love to watch animal videos on Facebook and they are never going to run out of them. Stay alive because you don’t want to leave your favorite book or movie behind. No one else is going to be able to quote them the same way you can. Stay alive because you’ve always loved tattoos and right now you don’t have any, but you could have an entire body filled with them one day. Find that small reason, that seems so silly, but it can’t possibly be silly if it brings you joy. Stay alive for something so small that other people might not see the significance, but I see it. I know it.

Stay alive for your dog. Your dog has seen a side of you most people haven’t. They have been with you through countless tears, and sleepless nights. Not only do dogs know when you’re sad, but dogs miss us when we’re gone. Think about leaving your dog on this planet without you, never knowing where you went. Stay alive because your dog is your guardian angel and they will always try their best for you. Don’t give up on your dog, because they never gave up on you.

Stay alive because according to the New England Journal of Medicine, 90% of people who survive an attempted to suicide don’t ever try again. I know you don’t want to hear statistics and this is the only one I’m sharing. I’m doing so to show you that this is nothing more than an impulsive decision. Push past it, because you will be okay one day. I know that’s another thing you don’t want to hear, but try to trust me. I am living, breathing proof.

And finally if you can’t stay alive for anything else, stay for me. Stay here because a person you have never talked to is writing an entire article begging you to not do it. I am begging you because my grandma tried to kill herself once and if she had done it successfully I don’t know where I would be today. If the world had ended for her, it would have ended for me as well. The world would have crumbled under my feet and brought me to my knees. I am begging you because I have lost friends and I can’t bare to think of losing anybody else.

I know you feel like you have hit rock bottom and somehow managed to dig further down. I know some days it feels like you live there. I know it is the most selfish thing to ask, but if being selfish is what it takes to keep you on Earth then I will be selfish until the day I die.

Please…stay alive.